The Warner sun. (Warner, Brown Co., Dakota [S.D.]) 1885-1???, 1887-09-02

Guy buhb b6cIueu uuAIS uCOQHlSLEuI
with their sober dress. Colin slashed
at the clover.tops with his stick, and
tossed a cheerful word to a ragged
negro, who trudged beside a slow OK.
cart.
Through the dusty cloud made by
the broadtired wheels he saw the fig
ure OF q woman approaching from the
direction OF the village, and it was not
long before they met. She walked
heavily, and her dress, once handsome,
was shabby and powdered with dust.
She paused, as if glad OF an excuse to
halt.
"Can you tell me how far
l am from Colin Stones house?"
she said, in @ hoarse, broken voice.
They looked at each other as she
spoke, and he saw a face that had
once been beautiful, but was now worn
and SCARED with a hundred vicious
lines, the complexion coarse and mud.
died.
In a moment she said. "Oh, its
you"
His dry lips refused to answer her.
This was the wife he had believed
dead for twelve years; the woman who
had ruined has home and happiness,
and growing tired of him had left him.
When she had Crept back again, i'll
and broken, he had given her shelter;
loveless but merciful. But nothing
could reclaim her. 1t had not been
long before she wearied anew Of her
tame, respectable life and left him,
and this time she did not return.
After a year or two of silence he mad
received a letter from the West telling
him OF her death. And now she has
come back to blast his life.
At sight of the pallor upon his faca
she broke into a discordant laugh.
How scared youlookr' she cried.
"Why have you come back, An
nette?" he asked
EDO you think l don't know all
about you-that you have another
wife and child? Oh, there amt much
you can tell me about yourself that I
don't know already. Why have /
come back?" she pursued, mockingly
-"why, because I'm tired Of a rowing
life. Iwant to settle down in peace and
quietness under my own roof-tree, in
the afternoon ofmy days, al the book
says"
"Oh, you DEVIL" he cried.
"Come, don't call me names. | am
your wife, after all, and the other
isn't"
Colon did not seem to heed her
taunt.
"Come into the field here" he said,
al don't want to be seen standing in
the road with you"
She followed him into a waste mead
ow, weedy and overgrown with
thistles and coarse grasses. A sparse
thicket OF scrub oaks grew beside the
fence that had fallen into a mere heap
of rotten rails, and the blackberry
vines rioted over it's decay. Here and
there among the rank growth were
fruit trees-plum trees with their
frothy foam of blossoms, gnarled
apple trees that bore a scant and Bit
ter harvest, wandering boughs of
peach bloom, and ounce branches
Hinged with the blush of dawn.
"Annette," said Colin, trying to-
clear the husky sound from his voice,
"what good will it do you to upset
my whole life? II you viii go qnietly
away will send you money every
month go that you can live comfort
ably"
'No," she retorted impudently, 81
want the moral susport of ahusband.
I want some one to work for me.
What's the use of bandying words"
"But why did you make me believe
you dead?"
ooh, it struck me it would beagood
plan. / was afraid you might find out
where / was-you were such and ele-
waited character in those days-and
try to reclaim me-"
She made a few steps forward; but
he put himself in front of her.
"Where r you going2" he asked.
81 am going to have q look at your
house and your new wife,"
"Woman," said Colin, did j ever
lay the weight of my hand upon you
in all the years you made my home a
hell? But now / tell you that if you
takeanother step I'll strike you dead"
She looked at the white face out Of
the eyes burned black, and the
tense hand clutching the knotty stick,
and shrank back, daunted, yet hals
81 was only fooling, she murmur-
ca. snNhy didn't you treat me that
way when we lived together, Colin? /
liked a man to be a man.
But | thought you were q poor fool
when you took me back, although /
you hated me-
sH your heart were not so black
vou would remember the past and
cave me IN peace"
II tell you / am tired OF being ruffed
about the world, she replied Querul-
,usly. ~ want to settle down. i
mean I want to stay here. II
come away with me 4 \ go queit-
". II n0t Silence Iotl0Weu ner un.
threat.
Colin stood with his eyes fixed upon
he ground. There arose in his mind
picture Of his own youth, full of
and promise; how he had